Kenyans fear Dakatcha Woodlands biofuel expansion

23 March 2011

By Will Ross

BBC News, Dakatcha

Being in the shade of a tree next to his thatched mud hut in in Kenya's Dakatcha Woodlands, Joshua Kahindi Pekeshe is bold.

"We are not going to let this land go even if it suggests shedding blood," he informed the BBC.

"Land is really crucial to us. We farm and get our income from it. On this land we bury our dead."

He is one of the lots of people opposed to the development of a big biofuel plantation in the location, about an hour's drive inland from the seaside town of Malindi.

It is a dry area and home to some 20,000 people as well as globally threatened animal and bird species.

Ambitious goals

An Italian business has asked the authorities for approval to lease 50,000 there to grow jatropha curcas, whose seeds are rich in oil that can be turned into bio-diesel.

This plant, initially from South America, has long been grown in Africa as a hedge to stay out animals - goats remain well away as it is poisonous. The area affected is neighborhood land which is being kept in trust by the local council.

Kenya jatropha curcas Energy Ltd is 100%-owned by the Milan-based Nuove Iniziative Industriali SRL.

It has actually leased almost a million hectares in Africa